Lily's Middle Name
by neoneco
Summary: It's kind of Harry/Luna fluff. They're cannon pairings, don't worry, and it's more friendship fluff than anything. We hear what happens after our hero saves the day and more on our resident Loony. Why Harry's daughter's named after the dreamy blond.


**Hi, guys. I'm sorry. I said I was on hiatus, but there was a plot bunny nibbling at my brain and my blood sugar was low. It practically wrote itself, you know?Anyway, this is neoneco, live from her Kitchen Table. Hope you like it. **

After the Battle of Hogwarts, he was approached for all sorts of jobs. He was offered an Order of Merlin, a position on the Wizengamot, an Auror position, even encouraged to run for the title Minister of Magic. But Harry had downright refused all of them. He was barely an adult! Not to mention his dropping out of school made his finding a job much harder. Or it would have been, if everyone weren't so keen to get on his good side, now that the fighting was ended. Frankly, the audacity of the wizarding world was nauseating, so much so, he was tempted to leave, and just to fade into obscurity.

Ginny and he had talked about it for a long time during the summer, and they had come to the conclusion, together, that they were; One-staying in the wizarding world; Two- enrolling him back into Hogwarts so he could finish his education; and Three-avoiding the spotlight like the bubonic plague until the intensity died down somewhat.

He consulted Ron and Hermione about it, and they were thrilled with the opportunity. Well, mostly Hermione. Ron was being reluctantly drug back to school though as well, because, like Hermione had so tactfully pointed out, what kind of job was he going to get without any NEWTs?

Harry enjoyed the classes with Ginny, and Luna, since they were both in their seventh years, and therefore attending Hogwarts as well. He didn't enjoy Colin Bloody Creevey taking pictures of him, although he wasn't nearly as annoying as he was as a firstie, he was still a bit irritating. Maybe it was the memories of "You alright there, Harry?" or "How 'bout a picture, Harry?" that aggravated Harry, but he was pleased when it finally stopped. He wasn't sure why Colin had so abruptly halted his advances, but he had a deep rooted suspicion about his girlfriend and her alarmingly powerful Bat-Bogey Hex. No words were exchanged over it, but he was grateful and sure she knew.

His last year brought a sort of anxiousness and melancholy. He was excited for it to end, for his life, to finally begin. No manipulators, no curses or prophecies to weigh down on him, making his own choices. It was something that he was suspensefully waiting for. He was also filled with sadness when he realized that both Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall wouldn't be teaching. Snape for the obvious reasons, but McGonagall had been promoted from Temporary Headmistress to Permanent Headmistress. She was no longer allowed to teach Transfiguration, since she had so many other responsibilities that filled her schedules. It just wasn't the same without McGonagall's fond but firm gaze, or Snape's unnerving swooping, smirking, and snapping. During his last year there, Harry made it his personal business to bother McGonagall, in honor of his father, Sirius, Remus, and Fred, the lost twin of the fantastic duo that made up Gred and Fordge. He had even visited Snape's old classroom, a stuffy, empty dungeon, looking over it and quietly concluding that it really was a nice chamber without the smelly cauldrons or horrible explosions. He could see why Snape had liked it initially, before he actually began teaching in it.

Severus Snape. Possibly the bravest man he'd ever met. A right bastard, exceedingly sarcastic, and a downright liar sometimes, but the man was also incredibly balls-y, and Harry respected that. Severus had been afraid, desperately so, but despite his mistakes, he made the right choice in the end. He died a hero. And only Harry knew.

Ron and Hermione didn't know why Harry had demanded such a respectful and expensive service for a former enemy and Death Eater, but they recognized it as something he had to do, something he wouldn't allow himself not to do. So, they went along with it, and supported him when he asked his first, and most trusted friends for help or advice.

Luna had also been a great help. Harry had begun to notice that she rarely showed up for class, and that tennis shoes and random odd knickknacks had made their way around the castle, often in the rafters or behind heavy statues. He knew that these things could only belong to one person, and decided to drag her around with him and help him collect them for her. He went up to where he knew Ravenclaw tower was, and after answering a fairly simple riddle, he was allowed in. He found her staring despondently at a three-year-old copy of The Quibbler. He could tell, because it was the edition in which his interview with Rita Skeeter was featured.

He had a sinking suspicion that she was starting to relapse into her time with the Malfoys, and realizing that no one was noticing her acting so out of character, much less coming to her aide, he took it upon himself to make sure she knew she was safe, and cared for, and happy.

He was going to get her to be her ditzy and serene self again if it was going to kill him.

Instead of being jealous, like he was half-afraid she would be, Ginny told him that what he was doing for her friend was what she literally called 'a noble cause'. She said that out of all the people she could've picked to help Luna, it would have been him.

And so his ongoing project started.

He took her places with him and Ginny, paid for shopping for the two of them, reintroduced Luna to people, helped her find things that were taken, by Nargles or people, brought her into conversations, and defended her when her beliefs were challenged. Eventually her eyes had regained that sharp hidden intellect that she had always disguised behind a vague smile and dreamy gaze. She started to willingly participate in debates, her grades rose a generous amount, and she even teased Ron and Hermione about their kissing in public. She wasn't exactly back to how she behaved before the war had started, but Harry supposed he wasn't the same Harry he was before the war, either.

Then again, maybe he was. Had he ever truly been a child? He was far from innocent, even before Hogwarts, although he reasons that he truly stopped acting like a kid when he woke up in the hospital wing after discovering the death of Quirinus Quirrell. The man he'd unintentionally murdered when he was eleven.

The man's death had weighed down on him ever since then. Sure, he was possessed, and trying to kill him, but the stubborn part of Harry's brain insists that there could've been something he could've done to help him. That there was a chance. There's always a chance, always a choice, isn't there?

He refused to be like Dumbledore, rationalizing the sacrifices as things that were necessary. The end does not justify the means. He remembered every name, every face that had sacrificed themselves for them, those he couldn't save, and even those he had saved, if only a little late.

His mom, his dad, Quirrell, Ginny, Cedric, Sirius, Dumbledore, Hedwig, Dobby, Ted Tonks, Ron, George, Fred, Tonks, Remus, Luna, Draco, Snape.

Luna's childishness and overall friendly demeanor was a godsend. He kept her grounded and she returned the favor, insisting on recruiting him, Ginny, Ron and Hermione into rare creature hunting, coming up with silly games, acting bizarre and generally bringing a smile to his face.

Near the end of the school year, Luna finally decided what job she wanted. She wanted to be an Unspeakable.

"My mother used to be one, before the accident… I always loved watching her work," she told him one day, her face nearly unreadable, the vulnerability almost perfectly hidden. But Harry saw it. He always saw it. And so he smiled that one peculiar smile, the one that was both heart warmingly kind and reassuring but also old and full of a wisdom that was far beyond his years, and he told her, "You should do it. Explore new magic, create new inventions, and discover new magical creatures. You'll love it, I know," he paused and pulled her into a hug before whispering, "She'd be so proud if she could see you now, Luna."

* * *

><p>They hadn't seen each other in a long time. Luna went into her training as an Unspeakable, and he went into his training as an Auror. So he was slightly startled when, out of the blue, she showed up at his desk and started speaking just as amicably as she would when they were in school, when they were close.<p>

She was going to leave the Ministry. She'd met a man, a magizoologist, named Rolf Scamander. She wanted to go with him, explore with him. It didn't escape Harry's notice that she was blushing a faint pink, and that she stuttered almost unnoticeably when she said his name. And although Harry was worried for her, who as her only friend he had the right to be, he couldn't help but notice how happy she looked. She was practically glowing. Trusting Luna's decision as the excellent judge of character she was, he smiled his peculiar smile at her again and told her to do what made her happy, and that she had his blessing as her friend to do whatever she liked.

Luna's silvery grey eyes shone with gratefulness and an endearing kind of sibling love passed between them before she leaned towards him, pecked him on the cheek, turned around quickly, and skipped out of his office.

It only occurred to him later, when he was thinking about what kind of papers made the best flying memos, that Luna's name and her mysterious magizoologist's name were rather comical together. Rolf and Luna.

A Honorable Wolf and the Moon.

They are quite well matched aren't they?

* * *

><p>Later, when his third child and first daughter is born, Ginny and Harry decide to honor their friend by making her middle name Luna. Lily Luna Potter.<p>

When Lily was older, and asked why her middle name was Luna, they explained that she was named after a dear friend, who'd been kind to them and helped them in times when there was no one to turn to, and she should be proud of her names, both Lily and Luna.

Lily smiled and Harry could only hope that this could begin to make up for all the danger he'd put Luna in during his fifth, and sixth year, not to mention the year his friends and he had spent on the run. They'd all been so brave during that year.

He could only hope that Luna would approve of his daughter, and her middle name.


End file.
